Ignition system



C. F. KETTERING.

IGNITION SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJ], i918.

1,43 5,966. Patented Nov. 2 1, 1922 60' e0 6/ i I k l gio LA-E k 80 -51 i l I I \l' 7/ L 75 -134 as g Fla. 1.

To all whom it comcm:

Patented Nev'."21,' 1922. i

-' UNI-TED" STATES 1 1,435,966 PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. KETTERING, or DAYTON, 0310, ASSIGNOR, BY mun ASSIGNMENTS, To

DELCO-LIGET comrm, or DAY ON, 0310,11 CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

IGNITI N Application filed August 5 Be it known that I, CHARLES F. KETTER- ING, a citizen of the .United States" of America, residing at Dayton, county of Montgomery, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements, in Ignition Systems, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to ignition systems for internal combustion engines and the like, and has among its objects the provision of an ignition system including elements, a certain portion of which may be'brought into effect to provide ignition to be used during the engine starting operation; and a certain other portion of which, including certain. elements of the first portionof the system, may be brought into efiect-to provide ignitionduring' the normal running operation of the engine.

One manner of carrying out this object ,is to provide an. ignition system including an ignition unit which can be actuated mechanically to create a sparking impulse, or electro-magnetically with the aid of j'a supply of current from any source,

which may be a generator driven by the engine, where the use of. a current source 1 independent of the engine, is notydesired.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a common manually controlled 'device for rendering the mechanical actuatin device of the i tion unit inoperative, an for rendering t e electro-magnetic actuating device ofv the unit operative, or vice versa, as desired. I i

invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference being made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: v Fig. 1 is a: sectional view of the ignition unit shown in Fi 2, the'section beingtaken on the line 11 ig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the'i nition unit-embodied in the present inventlon together with a wiring diagram and a diagrammatic side elevation'of certain parts of an internal combustion engine to which the present invention is applied; and

Fi '..3 is a fragmentary rear view of the ignition unit showing the member for con- SYSTEII 1918. Serial No. 248,307.

and 26 which are suitably supported on the enerator engine frame, not shown. A armature 30 is mounted on the sha t 24, and

cooperates with a generator field, not shown,

for generating an electric current which is conducted from. the armature windings to a commutator 31, or to slip rings 32 and 33. Brushes34 and 35 cooperate with the slip rings 32 and 33 to conduct current generated in the armature 30 to the primary transformer winding 36. A secondary transformer winding 37-cooperates with winding 36 to transform the currentto a voltage suitable for ignition purposes. Transformer winding 37 is connected by wire 38 with ignition switch '39 which is connected by wire 40 with a primary'winding 41 of the ignition unit to be described. Winding'41 is connected by a wire 42 with an ignition timer 43 connected bywire with a transformer winding 37. The circuit just described is a primary circuit of an ignition system using alternating current. It is obvious that current might" be supplied directly "to this I with current from a vbattery or other exter- Other and further objects of the present nal source, but as is apparent, the primary circuit may as well be energized-by current supplied by the generator driven by the engine, thus making the use of an external source of current unnecessary. A secondary winding .45, which includes a relatively large'number of turns of fine wire surrounds windings 41 and 45, which have been de-' scribed. 55 and 56 are permanent magnets secured upon the cores 53 and 54 near the I upper ends thereof, said magnets 55 and 56 interposed between the armatures 57 and 58. respectively,

respectively, which are retained by means.

being placed with like poles, adjacent. 57 and 58 are soft iron armatures which are slidably mounted on the reduced squared end portions 59 and 60 respectively,of a bar 61. The distance between the shoulders 63 and 64 formed on. bar 61 by reducing the end portions thereof is less than the length of the cores 53 and 54. Springs 65 and 66 are and washers 67 and 68,

of pins 69 and 70, respectively, which pass through the bar 61. Said springs 65 and 66 serve to yieldinglymaintain the armatures 57 and 58 in engagement with the cores 53 roller 74 which cooperates with a cam 74 which is driven by the engine through the gear 75 and gear 76'm0unted on shaft 24.

' Bar 73 carries near its upper end a pivotally mounted latch 77 which is yieldingly urged by spring 78 toward the dog 72. The latch 77 is provided with a ledge 79 which cooperates" with the dog 72 in a manner to be described, and said latch 77 is provided with a bevelled surface 80 which cooperates with the bevelled surface 81 formed inthe trip member 82. A cover 83 is secured to the frame 51 and serves as a housing for the different parts of the unit.

The operation of the device is as follows: When the engine is cranked, motion will be transmitted from the crank shaft 24 to the cam 74 through the gearing 76 and 75. The cam will rotate and cause the bar 73 to reciprocate in the frame 51. As the bar 73 moves upwardly, as viewed in Fig. 1, the ledge 79 on the latch 77 will engage the dog 72 and cause the bar 61 to move upwardly. Upward movement of thebar 61 will bring the shoulder 64 into'engagement with the armature 58, thus causing the armature 58 to move away from the ends of the cores 53 and 54. During this upward movement of the bar 61 the spring will 'be compressed and the armature 57' will be firmly held a ainst the lower ends of the cores 53 and 54.

us a complete metallic magnetic circuit is established through magnets 55 and 56, core 53 armature 57 and core 54.

l urther movement of the reciprocating bar 73 will cause the camming surface 80 .of the latch 77 to engage the surface 81 of the trip member 82; and, as the movement of bar 73 continues, the latch 77 will release the dog 72 and will permit the bar 61 to move downwardly rapidly, by virtue of its own weight and thepressure stored in the spring 65. This downward movement of the bar 61 will bringthe armature 58 down into engagement with the cores 53 and 54; and, after this engagement has taken place the bar 61 will continue its movement by virtue of the momentum stored in it. The shoulder 63 will engage the armature 57 and cause the movement thereof, a short distance away from the lower ends of the cores 53 and 54. When these movements of armatures 58 and 57 take place the magnetic field established through the cores 53 and 54 will be short circuited by the armature 58, and the fiux change will occur at a rate such as to create a sparking impulse in the winding 45 of suflicient magnitude to cause a spark to jump in the spark plug 48. A spring 84 which is interposed between the lower end of a slot in bar 73 and the pin 85 mounted in frame 51 causes the bar73 to return to its lowest position and to yieldingly maintain ghe roller 74 in an engagement with the cam After the engine has become self-operative and has reached a certain speed it may be found desirable toemploy some other means for supplying ignition, since the noise created by the rapid movement of certain of the mechanical parts of the device and by .the rapid succession of blows of the armatures 57 and 58 upon the cores 53 and 54 might be objectionable. To disable the re ciprocating bar 73 and to turn on the ignition switch 39 a common device is provided, which, as shownlin Fig. 3, consists of a lever 90 mounted at 91 upon the frame 51 and provided with a cam surface 92 which is adapted to engage the pin 93 carried by the bar 73. The lever 90 is provided with operating handle 94 and carries an insulated contact -member 95 extending therefrom and adapted to contact with contacts 96 and 97 ,of the ignition switch 39. By turning the lever 90 clockwise as viewed in Fig. 3 contact 95 will engage contacts 96 and 97, and the reciprocating bar will be elevated out of engagement with the cam 74. While the magnetic or mechanical means for varying the magnetic field about the inductive winding' 45 is thus rendered inoperative, it will be observed that the elements constituting the magnetic circuit are not changed or modified as regards their shape, nor are they removed out of their positions for normal operation, and hence it may be said that the normal reluctance of their magnetic circuits is not modified. Upon closing of the contacts of timer 43 current will be delivered to the winding 41 from the transformer winding 37. Thus a magnetic field,,will be. provided for coil' 45 by electro-magnetic means; and upon the opening of the contacts of timer 43, the energy of this field will be changed into electrical energy in the winding 45, manifesting itself as a spark at the spark plug 48.

start.

The ignition unit 50, when considered apart from thewinding 41, constitutes a re which generates an impulse the intensity of which is independent of the speed at the This impulse generator when thus considered alone, is not my "invention, but it is to be understood that said generator constitutes a part of the structure of the dis closed embodiment of my invention It will be understood that my invention includes the idea of creating in the region ofan inductive circuit a magnetic field, either by mechanical means or by electro-magnetic means and then either mechanically or electrically producin a sudden change in the number of lines 0 force 'in the magnetic field to produce a sparkin impulse; In the disclosed embodiment 0 this idea, I have used the impulse generator referred to, and have provided the additional winding. 41 of relatively few turns of wire to serve as the primary winding of an induction coil which includes as other elements thereof the cores 53 and 54,

. and the winding 45 serving as the secondary winding): driven y Current from the rotary generator the engine is used to energize this induction coil, and the usual engine driven timer is employed to control the delivery of current to the coil and the interruption of the current to create the sparking impulse.

Thus it will be apparent that the ignition system embodying the resent invention posesses the advantages ot an impulse generator ignition system forsupplying ignition at'low engine speed, andalsb the advantages of a silent operating battery-type system without the disadvantage of providing a separate storage battery or other source of current independent of the engine.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described constitutes a preferred embodiment of one form of the invention; it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, and various changes and alterations made in the shape, size, and proportion of the elements therein without depart ing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is as follows:

1. In an ignition system, the combination with an inductive circuit; of a magnetic path through the circuit; and electrical means and mechanical means for intermittently creating and destroying a magnetic field in the region of the circuit, whereby to induce a sparking impulse in the inductive circuit; and selective means for rendering either of said means inoperative, said mechanical means being rendered inoperative merely by arresting it in one of its normal operating positions. v

2. In an ignition system, the combination with an inductive circuit; of a magnetic path through the circuit; electrical means and mechanical means for intermittently creating and destroying a magnetic field in the region of the circuit, whereby to induce a s arking impulse in the inductive circuit; an means for rendering the mechanical means inoperative, said mechanical means comprising a magnetic circuit and being capable of being rendered inoperative while maintainin the normal reluctance of said magnetic circuit.

- 3. In an ignition system, the combination with an inductive winding; of a source of magnetism; a core cooperating with the windin magnetism from the said source in the re ion of the winding; a second inductive win ing cooperating 'electro-magneticall-y with the core and first named winding; a source of current and an ignition timer adapted to be connected with the second inductive winding; means normally short-circuiting the source of magnetism from said core, but mechanically operated for interrupting the short-circuit; means for rendering said last named means inoperative to interrupt said short-circuit and for connecting the second named inductive winding with the timer and current source whereby a sparking impulse may be created electro-magnetically in the, first inductive winding.

4. In an ignition system, the combination with an inductive winding and a permanent magnet; a core cooperating with the winding for conducting and concentrating magfor conducting and concentrating netism from the permanent magnet in the region of the winding; means normally -short-circuiting the flux of the permanent the core; an ignition timer; a source of current adapted to be connected with the timer and the second inductive winding; and means for rendering the first named means inoperative to interrupt the short-circuit and for bringing the second named inductive windin into operation whereby to create a spar ing impulse in the first named induction winding.

5. In an ignition system, the combination with an inductive winding; of a permanent magnet; cores cooperating therewith and with the Winding .for conducting magnetism from the permanent magnet to the Winding and for concentrating said magnetism in the region of the winding; a movable armature cooperating withthe cores for'completing the magnetic circuit through the cores; :1. second movable armature for short-circuiting the magnetism of the permanent magnet away from the cores; a second inductive winding cooperating with the cores and the first inductive windinggan ignition timer; a source of current adapted to be connected with the timer and with the second inductive Winding; a reciprocating member actuating the armatures to interrupt intermittently thegshort-circuit of the flux of the permanent magnet whereby intermittently to energizesaid cores; means for rendering the reciprocating member inoperative and for connecting the second inductive Winding with the timer and source of current whereby a sparking impulse may be created in the first named inductive winding.

6. In an ignition system for internal-combustion engines, the combination with an inductive circuit; of a permanent magnet; a source of current; electro-magnetic means cooperating with the current source and the inductive circuit for intermittently creating a magnetic field in the region of said circuit; and means for intermittentlyv causing the permanent magnet to produce a magnetic field in the region of the inductive circuit; and selective means for rendering either of said means inoperative while maintaining the normal reluctance of their magnetic circuits.

7. In an ignition system for internal-combustion engines, the combination with an inductive circuit; of a permanent magnet; a

source of current; electro-magnetic means cooperating with the current source and the inductive circuit for intermittently creatinga magnetic field in the region of said circuit; and means for intermittently causing the permanent magnet to produce' a magnetic field in the region of th'e inductive circuit; andmeans for rendering said last named means inoperative and-the electro-magnetic means with an inductive circuit; of a magnet;

means for periodically shifting the magnetic flux of the magnet into cooperative relation with the inductive circuit whereby to induce 'a sparking impulse in the inductive circuit;

means comprising a second inductive circuit for intermittently creating a magnetic field in cooperative relation with the firstmentioned inductive'circuit whereby to induce a sparking impulse therein; and selective means for rendering either of said means inoperative, While maintaining the normal reluctance of their magnetic circuits.

9. In an ignition system, the combination with an inductive circuit; of a magnetic path through the circuit; and electrical means and mechanical means for intermittently creating and destroying a magnetic field in the region of the circuit, whereby to induce a sparking. impulse in the inductive circuit; selective means for renderingeither of said means inoperative; and timer mecha-,

nism cooperating only with said electrical means.

In testimon whereof I affix my signature.

C ARLES F. KETTERING. Witnesses:

J. W. MCDONALD, H. E. SOLLENBERG R. 

